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Skill Paths
This page will detail Skill Paths your character can take to enhance various skills. They fall under 2 categories: Weapon Skill Paths and Technical Skill Paths. Technical Skill Paths are not necessarily "high-tech" skills, though some are. Instead, they are inclusive of any skill that requires training, such as Craft skills, Medical Skills, and of course, high-tech skills like Compute Use/Hacking, Electronics, and Telecommunications. General Rules Unlike other Paths, you do not need to spend starting points to access multiple paths. You can take as many paths as your Starting Points and Experience points can afford. Like regular Paths, Skill Paths have a number of Talent to choose from. Also like regular Paths, you have set number to begin with. Each player starts with a number of Skill Path Talents equal to their Intelligence (INT) plus the Main Attribute granted by their Path divided by 2. In the case where Paths are not available/allowed, combine your Intelligence (Int) and your highest "physical attribute", i.e. Strength, Constitution, or Agility. Again, those formulas are: If the campaign allows Magic or '''Paths' Intelligence (INT) + Main Attribute from your '''Path' / 2 OR If the campaign does not allow Magic or '''Paths' Intelligence + Highest Physical Attribute / 2 Once you have determined your number of Talents, you can choose them from either the Weapon Skill Paths or the Technical Skill Paths, or both. Again, you are only limited on the number of talents. You do have to meet any prerequisites, as a general rule, the talents in the higher tiers (2nd tier and higher) require a talent from the previous tier, e.g. a talent from '''Tier 4' will require a talent from Tier 3 be taken first. There may be other prerequisites, so pay attention to be sure you can take that talent. Concentrated Talents Concentrated talents are essentially those with "Cooldowns". This will be detailed in the description of the talent, but it basically means that once the talent is performed, regardless if it is a success or not, the player must wait a number of rounds before they can use that talent again. Again, the number of rounds will be detailed in the talent description. Charged Talents These are talents that a character begins on 1 action, but releases on a subsequent action depending on how long they "hold" their action, concentrating on the attack. The number of rounds, and the benefits for holding longer, are detailed under the talent, but a Charged Attack/Talent takes at least 2 actions, meaning for the first 2 actions, the character is charging, and on the 3 the attack is resolved normally with the added benefits applied...if successful Once Per Combat Like Concentrated Talents, these are talents with a "Cooldown", but a much longer one. These are talents that can only be used ONCE per combat. If the Combat lasts 3 rounds and the Character used this Ability in the first round, he cannot use it in the following 2 rounds. If the Combat lasts 34 rounds and the character used this Ability in the first round, he cannot use it again until the Combat is resolved 33 rounds later. The only exception is the small number of Path Talents that reset "once per combat" talents, such as Once More Into the Breech'' or Regain Focus. With these talents, you can use these Once Per Combat Talents one more time, but only once more as the "reset" talents can only be used once themselves.'' Positive Numbers Added to Recoil Many passive talents, especially the Weapon Skill Talents, give the character a positive bonus to their Recoil, usually expressed as +2 to recoil, or something similar. This is added directly to the usually "negative" recoil. So, if a weapon has a recoil rating of -3 and they receive a +2 bonus to their Recoil, their recoil for that weapon is only -1. All other Recoil rules apply, such as building Recoil, but at a slower rate if you have a bonus. Weapon Skill Paths These Skill Paths are broken down even more into 2 sub-categories: Ranged Weapon Skill Paths and Melee Weapon Skill Paths. The majority of these talents are Active talents, though there are some passive. Unless stated otherwise by the specific talent, each Active talent takes 1 Action to preform. Below are the primary, Tier 1, talents for the 2 categories of Weapon Skill Paths: *Ranged Weapon Talents **Archer **Crossbowman **Pistoleer **Carbineer **Sniper **Rifleman *Unarmed Talents **Practiced Striking **Counter to Counter *Melee Weapon Talents **Fencer **Two-Handed Swordfighter **Axeman **Cleaver **Basher **Staff-Fighter **Hellhammer **Knife Fighter **Lancer **Pikeman More detail is provided in the Weapon Skill Paths page. Technical Skill Paths Again, these Skill Paths do not just cover computers and electronics (though they are included), but any sort of Technical/Intelligence skill that can be used actively. This includes most Applied Skills and a few others. Below are the primary, Tier 1, talents for the 4 categories of Technical Skill Paths: *Tradesman **Armorsmith **Weaponsmith **Metallurgist **Mechanic **Jeweler **Fletcher **Gunsmith *Composer **Musician **Writer **Dancer **Artist **Actor *Medic **First Responder **Surgeon **Cybernetics *Techie **Hardware Specialist **Programmer **Hacker More detail is provided in the Technical Skill Paths page.